Written Answers Friday 20 February 2009

Scottish Executive

Forestry

Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Forestry Challenge Funds are part of the Scotland Rural Development Programme.

Roseanna Cunningham: Yes.

Justice

Richard Baker (North East Scotland) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the average number of days served in prison was for people convicted for handling an offensive weapon in the last year, broken down by police force area.

Fergus Ewing: The following table shows the mean time spent in prison for prisoners liberated during the past four years from custodial sentences for convictions where the main crime was handling offensive weapons. For liberations in 2007-08, the mean time served was 101 days. This figure has been increasing consistently since 2004-05.

  Mean Number of Days Served for Handling Offensive Weapons

  

2004-05
2005-06
2006-07
2007-08


63
68
79
101



  Source: Scottish Government Justice Analytical Services.This information is not held in a way which allows it to be broken down by police force area.

Planning

Des McNulty (Clydebank and Milngavie) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S3W-9066 by Michael Russell on 25 February 2008, whether the matters of process raised with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) were the same matters that were raised with the chief executive of SEPA by the Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment on 30 November 2007.

Roseanna Cunningham: The Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment had no contact with the Chief Executive of the Scottish Environment Protection Agency on 30 November 2007.